10 Rock Songs Written About Real People
2. How Do You Sleep - John Lennon
Once the Beatles had dissolved in the early 70's, there was a lot of bad blood still festering between the Fab Four. While most artists were too timid to touch on their more personal relationships, John Lennon laid out his frustration with Paul McCartney in his funky rocker "How Do You Sleep?."
Written as an open letter to his former writing partner, Lennon holds nothing back as he proceeds to throw shade at McCartney's more laid back style. The song takes jabs at McCartney's dictating presence during the band's psychedelic period while also suggesting he was washed up by the time the infamous "Paul is Dead" rumor came to fruition. Numerous Beatles tunes are thrown into the mix like "Sgt. Pepper" and even Paul's masterpiece "Yesterday," which Lennon suggests is the only worthwhile thing McCartney ever thought up.
Just a few months later, McCartney himself would fire back at Lennon with the song "Too Many People," where he criticized the more political side of Lennon's persona and how it was him who broke the Beatles apart. While the Beatles released some of the most fun-filled music of the rock genre, songs like these show that there was much nastier stuff underneath the surface.